Symbaloo is a web-based “curation” tool that allows you to set up a personal portal to all of the places on the web that are important to you.It's free for personal use. It is a technology that facilitates the construction of a personal learning environment (PLE) (see below). Classroom teachers and School Districts can scale Symbaloo for use with unlimited student accounts for a fee.
"a set of tools, information sources, connections and activities-experiences that every person uses to learn assiduously" (Castaneda & Soto, 2012; p. 10)
"the tools, communities, and services that constitute the individual educational platforms that learners use to direct their own learning and pursue educational goals." (Educause Learning Initiative)
"systems that help learners take control of and manage their own learning.This includes providing support for learners to:
set their own learning goals
manage their learning, both content and process
communicate with others in the process of learning" (Wikipedia, 2013)
"Personal learning environments (abbreviated as PLEs), are a way of organizing, curating, and bringing coherence to the many digital interactions students have with other students, teachers, digital others on the Internet, and the content they find online and on paper. Personal learning environments provide entry points, organization, and a network that makes sense; these entry points serve as a table of contents to an individual user’s multiple digital interactions. As important, the class learning environments teachers create can become important components of the personal learning environments their students create" (Wolsey, 2012)
Here’s an image of a “Research” webmix that I made in less than 5 minutes. It includes tiles that take me to sites I often use to find information, but also to sites that are go-to resources for up-to-date information in my field of study.
Here's an image of an Educational Technology webmix that my colleague, Dan Thrower, shared at the #GREAT13 Conference
Overview of Features Symbaloo is incredibly easy to use. Once you start an account, you can create your own "home" webmix by searching for popular tiles or creating your own. You can also explore thousands of public webmixes through the Symbaloo gallery for ideas.
On school laptops that have a common "image", Symbaloo can be the homepage -- providing quick access to commonly used webspaces for kids in all grades who share the machines [read about features here]
You can embed a symbaloo webmix on your class website for often-used resources
Webmixes are organized by tool genre (e.g., remix tools, digital writing tools, social networking tools), by topic (e.g. Chemistry, Spanish, Math), by Class, by purpose (e.g., research tools) OR all of this can be color-coordinated in a single webmix.
To curate collections of webmixes created by students
How else could you imagine using it?
Mini Task
In 15 minutes, create either... (a) A new #digiURI webmix that includes at least three tiles related to your assignments this week OR (b) The start of an integrated Personal Learning Environment (PLE) that you can reference and revise to infinity and beyond...
Reflection How could Symbaloo help you and your students to access, navigate, and reflect on the information sources that you use daily? To what extent is Symbaloo like other tools you've used? How is it different from other tools? How is it the same?
What is Symbaloo?
Symbaloo is a web-based “curation” tool that allows you to set up a personal portal to all of the places on the web that are important to you.It's free for personal use. It is a technology that facilitates the construction of a personal learning environment (PLE) (see below). Classroom teachers and School Districts can scale Symbaloo for use with unlimited student accounts for a fee.
What is a Personal Learning Environment? (PLE)
Link to a Storify with links to info re: PLEs"a set of tools, information sources, connections and activities-experiences that every person uses to learn assiduously" (Castaneda & Soto, 2012; p. 10)
"the tools, communities, and services that constitute the individual educational platforms that learners use to direct their own learning and pursue educational goals." (Educause Learning Initiative)
"systems that help learners take control of and manage their own learning.This includes providing support for learners to:
set their own learning goals
manage their learning, both content and process
communicate with others in the process of learning" (Wikipedia, 2013)
"Personal learning environments (abbreviated as PLEs), are a way of organizing, curating, and bringing coherence to the many digital interactions students have with other students, teachers, digital others on the Internet, and the content they find online and on paper. Personal learning environments provide entry points, organization, and a network that makes sense; these entry points serve as a table of contents to an individual user’s multiple digital interactions. As important, the class learning environments teachers create can become important components of the personal learning environments their students create" (Wolsey, 2012)
How can I access Symbaloo?
http://www.symbaloo.com/
http://www.symbalooedu.com/
What does Symbaloo Look Like?
Here’s an image of a “Research” webmix that I made in less than 5 minutes. It includes tiles that take me to sites I often use to find information, but also to sites that are go-to resources for up-to-date information in my field of study.Here's an image of an Educational Technology webmix that my colleague, Dan Thrower, shared at the #GREAT13 Conference
Overview of Features
Symbaloo is incredibly easy to use. Once you start an account, you can create your own "home" webmix by searching for popular tiles or creating your own. You can also explore thousands of public webmixes through the Symbaloo gallery for ideas.
Introduction to Symbaloo
How to Create, Edit and Search for Tiles
Symbaloo Public Gallery of Webmixes
How do teachers use Symbaloo?
How else could you imagine using it?
Mini Task
In 15 minutes, create either...(a) A new #digiURI webmix that includes at least three tiles related to your assignments this week
OR
(b) The start of an integrated Personal Learning Environment (PLE) that you can reference and revise to infinity and beyond...
Reflection
How could Symbaloo help you and your students to access, navigate, and reflect on the information sources that you use daily?
To what extent is Symbaloo like other tools you've used? How is it different from other tools? How is it the same?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES